One episode shy of their 1,000 installment of this show, Dean and Phil jokingly compare notes on the tolls reaching such a milestone have taken. Phil hints at some of his weekend 40th high school reunion adventures, Dean updates the prognosis of his beloved Doberman, Leloo, and previews his own birthday celebrations. Of course, Dean and Phil now produce several different podcasts each week through the “Chillpak Hollywood Presents …” Substack. And last week’s episode of “Celebrity Deaths” resulted in the need to begin with some corrections and/or clarifications! After those, it’s nothing but good news from the world of show biz, including the continued astonishing success of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the halt (til at least next year) of the Parmount-Warners merger, and the announcement that an iconic Hollywood locale will be reopening in 2028. Finally, Phil sings the praises of the one of the all-time best debut features for any director ever, the heartbreaking and hilarious, sexually explicit, gay biker BDSM film, Pillion, and Dean reveals his early reaction to the new spin-off of “The Big Bang Theory”.

In a truly confusing, but nevertheless hilarious, cold open, Phil offers a correction about “Malta Air”. Thanks to emails from loyal listener and frequent contributor Maurice Terenzio, Dean and Phil have a ball talking about three great actors of Hollywood’s golden age: Joe E. Brown, George Raft and Edward G. Robinson. The big show biz news of the week get discussed: the possible halt to the Paramount-Warners merger and the historic box office success for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Two new movies get reviewed: The brilliant comedy Stop! That! Train! and the hit Netflix offering Enola Holmes 3. Of course, Dean and Phil continue their ongoing film noir and neo-noir discussion, focusing on the nihilism of the 1970s as depicted in such modern classics as Arthur Penn’s Night Moves and the Paul New man vehicle The Drowning Pool. Finally, colleague Marc Hershon (star of the “Chillpak Hollywood Presents …” podcast Television with Marc Hershon) drops in to help your friends in podcasting come up with ideas for how they can commemorate their upcoming 1,000 episode, and to discuss ideas for Phil’s next movie, a documentary all about improv!